It feels as if the past few years have played host to some of the most controversial video games and discussions around said games we’ve ever seen. We’re quicker to celebrate a game’s untimely demise, more eager to tear down anything labelled a live service, and ready to jump at the throats of those who disagree. Of course, I’m generalizing a tad; not everyone is like that, and some are content with simply enjoying the games they like. However, after the downfall of Concord, the recent despairing failure of Highguard, and numerous other massive flops, one can’t help but feel that controversy and ardent debate around the gaming industry have reached terrifying new heights.
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One of the more recent targets of such negative discussion, for both good and unjustified reasons, is a new PlayStation game. This level of discourse seems to follow the studio like the plague, its somewhat disastrous attempt at producing a successful live service game largely the reason. Marathon, the latest game from the now PlayStation-owned studio, Bungie, was ridiculed when it was first announced, torn to shreds after it suffered countless controversies, and believed to be a Concord-sized failure when it was delayed indefinitely. However, after the recent Server Slam and a significant amount of glowing praise from critics and fans alike, it seems as if we should all admit that we were perhaps wrong this time.
Marathon Appears To Be A Massive Success Already
I will be the first to admit that I hated the idea of Marathon and have, on many occasions, expressed a desire for it to fail. Not only am I very much against PlayStation’s bizarre dedication to the live service model, especially as it has resulted in the closure of many high-profile studios, including the beloved Bluepoint, but I am also saddened by Marathon abandoning the original’s best feature and being a multiplayer-only experience. Nevertheless, as quick as I was to turn against Bungie’s latest attempt at captivating the live service market, I am eager to rush to its defense, especially in the face of such overwhelming positivity.
Marathon’s recent server slam has been an enormous success, garnering an all-time peak of 143,621 on Steam alone, according to SteamCharts. For context, Concord, a game that suffered a similar amount of hate prior to the launch of its Beta, only managed to amass a peak of 2,388 players on Steam. While the player count has dipped somewhat since the start of the server slam, it continues to average in the 50,000 mark, an extremely high level of retention and something that bodes very well for the game’s upcoming launch. This high amount of enthusiasm now surrounding Marathon is further cemented by the game’s glowing previews, garnering plenty of praise from critics and fans alike.
Of course, there’s still negativity and backlash surrounding Marathon; it is a live service game, after all. However, the growing shift in sentiment toward the next Bungie game is pleasing to see, not least because it proves that the major delay and attempts to fix Marathon’s biggest issues have paid off, but also because it will hopefully teach us all a lesson going forward. That is to say, Marathon’s success will eschew the expected norm of negativity crushing an upcoming live service game, no matter the pedigree behind it, and that could enable future games a much-needed chance of survival.
Marathon Proves We Need To Stop Criticizing Games Before They Come Out
As I reflect on both my own initial reaction to Marathon and that of its many other detractors, I also look at Highguard, another recent example of a sudden wave of unjustified backlash killing an experience with a lot of potential. Highguard’s unfortunate release strategy and the drama surrounding its initial reveal have led its player count to dwindle well below 1,000 on PC, despite the studio’s desperate attempts at recovering much of its lost fanbase.
Moments before the extremely negative vitriol surrounding Highguard began circulating on the internet, the many now laid-off talented staff at Wildlight Entertainment were gearing up to celebrate. They didn’t expect the reaction to be so drastically negative, and, realistically, it should never have been. Sure, it is a bit disappointing to have the final announcement of the Game Awards be yet another live service shooter, but that doesn’t give us the right to lambast the game. It was unjustified disdain that rendered a potentially great game a floundering failure, and that’s a genuine shame.
Online discourse will, of course, continue to exist. This article’s existence is contributing to it in some small way. However, I’d like to think that Marathon’s success can somehow change the tide of negativity into something a little more measured. People should absolutely be extra vigilant when new video games are announced, promising the world. We’ve all been burned too many times to allow our guards down completely. However, that shouldn’t mean that our initial reaction should always be one of negativity, of disappointment, or of assured hatred for something we know so little about and haven’t played.
Perhaps Highguard would have survived its launch period with a lot more players had it not launched with preconceived notions that it would be bad. Perhaps Concord would still exist and not be one of the many unplayable games left to die and leave behind but a whimper of a legacy. I sincerely hope that our attitude toward unreleased games can remain a little tempered, a little tamer, and a little more generous, if only to ensure that games with a lot of potential and the teams of very real humans behind them aren’t ground into the dust before they’ve even had the chance to show off what they’re truly capable of.
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